Name Myfanwy Piper Role Art critic | ||
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Books What the Old Man Does is Always Right: An Opera in One Act Children Edward Piper, Sebastian Piper Similar People Benjamin Britten, John Piper, Luke Piper | ||
Frances Spalding on Myfanwy Piper's libretto for Britten's Owen Wingrave
Mary Myfanwy Piper (; Welsh: /məˈvanuj/; 28 March 1911 – 18 January 1997) was a British art critic and opera librettist.
Contents
- Frances Spalding on Myfanwy Pipers libretto for Brittens Owen Wingrave
- Biography
- Opera libretti
- Play
- References
Biography
Mary Myfanwy Evans was born on 28 March 1911 into a Welsh family in London. Her father was a chemist in Hampstead, north London. She attended North London Collegiate School, from where she won a scholarship to read English Language and Literature at St Hugh's College, Oxford.
From 1935 to 1937 she edited the periodical Axis, devoted to abstract art. In 1937 she married the artist John Piper, with whom she lived in rural surroundings at Fawley Bottom near Henley-on-Thames for much of her life.
Between 1954 and 1973 she collaborated with the composer Benjamin Britten on several of his operas, and between 1977 and 1981 with composer Alun Hoddinott on most of his operatic works. She was a friend of the poet John Betjeman, who wrote several poems addressing her, such as "Myfanwy" and "Myfanwy at Oxford".
John and Myfanwy Piper had two sons and two daughters. Her elder son, painter Edward Piper, predeceased her.
She died at her home in Fawley Bottom on 18 January 1997.